In February of 1963, Ford’s car merchandising manager, V.P. Motto, announced that the Dearborn automaker would be introducing a “Special Lightweight Performance Vehicle,” based upon the production Galaxie, to be offered to drag racers nationwide. The 1963 (technically 1963½) Ford Galaxie 500 Lightweight soon became the stuff of legend, proving competitive at drag strips nationwide in the hands of drivers like Dick Brannan and Phil Bonner. Only 212 were ever constructed, and many have been lost to the dual ravages of time and hard use in competition. Last Saturday, a two-owner 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 Lightweight, showing just 1,483 miles on the odometer, sold for $220,000 in Indianapolis, earning a spot in the top-10 of the Mecum sale.

Customers purchasing a Galaxie Lightweight could get them in any color they wanted, as long as that was Corinthian White with a red vinyl interior. Not that there was much of an interior to speak of, since in the interest of weight savings, the purpose-built Galaxies did away with heaters; sound deadening and seam sealers; a clock; window anti-rattle shims; carpeting; arm rests; and a dome lamp. Front seats were lightweight Bostrom Thin Line models, and to give an idea how seriously Ford took its weight savings, visors were made of stiffened cardboard instead of padded vinyl.

The crash diet wasn’t reserved for the interior, either. The fenders and fender aprons, hood, and trunk lid were made from fiberglass, and some Galaxie Lightweights even got fiberglass doors. Bumpers and bumper mounts were from aluminum, as were the flywheel housing and case for the T-10 transmission. A lightweight chassis, featuring a frame designed for six-cylinder cars, was standard issue; hinge springs were absent from the hood (though a prop rod was provided); the trunk lid torsion bar was similarly deleted; and no spare tire, jack, lug wrench or mount was included. In total, the changes shed 425 pounds, but increased the price by an estimated $1,400.

Under the hood, Galaxie Lightweights received a 427-cu.in., 425-horsepower V-8, with cross-bolted main bearings, transistorized ignition, cast-iron headers, a high-lift and high-duration camshaft, and dual Holley 4160 four-barrel carburetors sitting atop a single-plane low-rise intake (hence the car’s flat hood). In 1963, Popular Hot Rodding recorded a pass of 12.49 seconds at 116.27 MPH in Les Ritchie’s Galaxie Lightweight, while Dick Brannan recorded a pass in 11.81 seconds at 123 MPH in his own Galaxie (a 1962 Lightweight wearing a 1963 body).

The 1963 Galaxie Lightweight that sold on Saturday had been part of the Danny Hill Collection for two decades. Hill reportedly purchased the car from the same Ford dealership that had delivered it to the original owner, later repurchasing it when the owner lost interest. As listed, the Galaxie Lightweight was described as a two-owner car with a correct (but not necessarily original) 427/425 V-8 and a 20-year-old restoration; despite the age of the work, the 154th Galaxie Lightweight built managed to sell for its high pre-auction estimate.

From the late 1950s onward, Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago, Illinois, built a reputation as one of the country’s go-to dealers for high performance parts, and later, turnkey cars. When the Camaro debuted in 1967, Nickey claimed to be the first to drop a 427 V-8 between its fenders, and into the 1970s did a brisk business in selling modified Camaros (and other Chevy models). When Nickey Chevrolet became Keystone Chevrolet in December of 1973, the production of modified cars at the dealership ceased; next month, a 1974 Nickey Stage III Camaro, believed to be the last one built by Nickey Chevrolet, will cross the auction block in Indianapolis.

To be clear, Nickey Chevrolet ceased building high-performance cars in December of 1973, but at the same time, Nickey Chicago opened its doors. Started by Nickey Chevrolet owners Jack and Ed Stephani and employing former Nickey Chevrolet vice president Al Seelig and former dealership parts manager Don Swiatek, Nickey Chicago continued to sell parts, tuning services and complete cars until the business shut down a second time in 1977. Even this wasn’t the end of the Nickey name; about the time that Chevrolet revived the Camaro in 2010, Stefano Bimbi reopened Nickey Chicago, specializing in modifications to the latest generation of Chevrolet Camaros.

The original owner of the yellow 1974 Camaro carrying VIN 1S87K4N128358 had read about Nickey’s performance modifications, and wanted a car of his own for high-speed highway cruising. Ordered in Type LT trim, the car was delivered to Nickey Chevrolet on November 17, 1973, and the conversion took place immediately after. As GM was no longer supplying assembled L88 V-8s by this point, Nickey ordered an L88 short block and the components required to build the engine in house.

As delivered, the Nickey Stage III Camaro’s 427-cu.in. V-8 came with cast-iron heads for durability, instead of L88’s usual aluminum castings; 12.5:1 compression; and a Holley 4053 780 cfm carburetor perched atop an LS6 intake manifold. Given the car’s road-centric mission, it was ordered with 3.23 gearing in the Positraction rear, which would have been a suboptimal setup for dragstrip use but probably yielded slightly better fuel economy. The original owner held on to the Nickey Camaro for the next 16 six years before selling the car to Rocco Lucente around 1980.

Lucente reportedly drove the car for a few months before parking it in the basement garage of his mother’s house and pulling the engine, intent on making a few revisions to improve driveablility. Other projects took priority, and the car sat disassembled for the next 28 years, until Lucente’s mother forced the issue. Placed for sale locally, the car was found by Stefano Bimbi, the man behind Nickey Chicago’s latest rebirth, who quickly cut a deal for the Camaro and soon after sold the car to Mike Guarise.

Guarise sent the Camaro to Muscle Car Designs for a complete restoration and build to “Day Two” specifications. Making it quicker off the line, 4.56 gearing was added to the 10-bolt Positraction rear, a set of Lakewood traction bars were installed and air-adjustable Gabriel Hi-Jacker shocks were fitted. Inside, the carpeting was replaced, but most of the remaining interior parts are said to be original.

Shown at the 2013 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, the Camaro scored 999 out of a possible 1,000 points, enough to capture the award for the Best Chevrolet in the Modified class. As for proof that this was the last Camaro put together at Nickey Chevrolet before the operation moved to Nickey Chicago, that’s a bit tougher to come by. Still, the car has been certified as a genuine Nickey build, and the date of the 427 conversion makes it highly unlikely that any further Stage III cars were assembled after this. Given the car’s show-ready condition, 33,000 original miles and place in muscle car history, Mecum is predicting a selling price between $135,000 and $175,000 when the car crosses the stage in Indianapolis on May 16.

A Yenko Super Camaro 450 would be a welcome addition to any Chevrolet muscle car collection, but a four-owner car with 1,340 miles, constructed in the first 1968 batch of 20, has to sit near the top of the desirability list. Last Saturday, a 1968 Yenko Super Camaro fitting this description and complete with its original Yenko-swapped 450-hp, 427-cu.in. L-72 V-8 crossed the stage in Indianapolis, selling for a hammer price of $320,000.

Ordered from Chevrolet by Yenko Sportscars in December 1967 (and referenced in a June 1968 memo from Yenko’s Donna Mae Mims to Vince Piggins of Chevrolet Engineering), Yenko YS-8019 was delivered from Chevrolet with an early variant of COPO 9737, a central office production order code that later included things like heavy-duty cooling, suspension upgrades and brake upgrades. This code would go on to define the “standard content” of a Yenko Camaro, making YS-8019 even more exclusive for the enhanced performance components it lacked.

It’s also made YS-8019 somewhat controversial, as the car’s only evidence of the COPO 9737 package is its 140 MPH speedometer. As the Camaro Research Group website points out, however, “the 1968 version of COPO 9737 included a L78 396 and the 140 MPH speedometer. It was not ordered in combination with any other COPO in 1968.” In other words, the “sports car conversion” that most associate with the Yenko Camaros came later, and actually required the ordering of additional COPO codes. Though Mecum described the car as “built without the COPO 9737 designation,” it’s probably more accurate to state that the car was built with an early version of COPO 9737, one that lacked the features later associated with Yenko Camaros.

That’s hardly the car’s only controversy. Period photos show the car wearing fender lettering reading “396 CU. IN.,” yet the car only carried a 396-cu.in. V-8 from the factory to Don Yenko’s shop, where it received its 427-cu.in. upgrade. Even this wasn’t enough for its second owner, drag racer A.J. Lancaster, who pulled the Yenko 427 and dropped in a race-prepped 427 of his own. In drag racing, as in advertising, it’s best to not believe everything one reads.

Eventually, Lancaster sold the car to Rob Ferris, who began a restoration of the car circa 1990. Prior to completion, it was purchased by Corvette collector Dr. Vance Shappley, and part of the package included the original Yenko 427 and the car’s original interior, both pulled and preserved when the car was raced by Lawrence. The restoration choice, then, was to return the car to its period drag-race livery, or to return it to its as-delivered-by-Yenko-Sportscars state. Shappley opted for the latter, and the restored car, resplendent in its Sequoia Green paint, looks much as it did when Branine Chevrolet originally took delivery in 1968.

In 1966, at his father’s insistence, Roger Burleson ordered a black-on-black 1966 Chevy II Nova SS with the optional L79 V-8 engine as his high school graduation present. Over 48 years, it’s accumulated just 52,000 miles, none of them in quarter-mile increments. Described as wearing mostly original paint, with a mostly original interior, this single-owner, single-year muscle car will cross the stage in Indianapolis later this week, giving one lucky bidder a chance to own an uncommon piece of muscle car history.

Though this seems like science fiction today, in 1966 it was possible to walk into a Chevrolet dealership and order a Corvette-engined Chevy II Nova, at a price affordable to nearly anyone with a full-time job. Those preferring show over go could also order the Super Sport trim package with a sensible 194-cu.in. inline six-cylinder engine, but those craving acceleration knew to check the order box for the Corvette’s L79 V-8, which delivered 350 horsepower from its 327-cu.in. displacement. Mated to a Muncie four speed and equipped with the Positraction rear and 3.73:1 gearing, a stock L79 Nova was capable of running from 0-60 MPH in 7.2 seconds, completing the quarter-mile in 15.1 seconds at a trap speed of 93 MPH. Bolting on a few aftermarket parts and a set of drag slicks could easily drop that time into the 12-second range, at a speed of 115 MPH.

While many low-mileage L79 Novas have led hard lives, Burleson’s car isn’t one of them. Although he admits to the occasional (and ill-advised) street throw-down, his Nova has never been to the drag strip, and in nearly five decades, it’s reportedly never been to a car show or cruise-in, either. Showing almost superhuman restraint, Burleson and his family have enjoyed the car sparingly, and in keeping with family tradition, his own three children have driven the car to their high school proms. It’s said to have been garaged since 1972, which explains why much of its paint is described as original.

Many L79 Novas ordered for drag strip duty were base models, devoid of luxury amenities like a heater or a radio in order to save weight. Burleson’s Nova, on the other hand, is fairly well-equipped with the Super Sport trim package, a center console, an AM radio, Custom Deluxe color-matched seat belts, the Positraction differential (with 3.73 gearing) and dual outside mirrors. Though some of the components have been changed over the years (like the Nova’s original Holley four-barrel carburetor and the original alternator), the parts are included in the sale, as is a stack of documentation and in-period photographs showing the history of the car with the Burleson family.

It’s believed that between 200 and 300 1966 Chevy II Nova models were built with the optional L79 V-8, and few can claim the pampered, single-owner existence of this example. That will surely have an effect on the selling price, which Mecum predicts will be in the $200,000 to $225,000 range, in line with an award-winning, restored 1966 Chevy II Nova SS L79 that sold for $207,500 at last year’s Kissimmee, Florida sale.

It took more than just horsepower to push Detroit’s full-size cars into the 12s in the early 1960s – it also took some extreme weight-saving measures, perhaps none more extreme than Pontiac’s “Swiss cheese” approach. But it also took the talent of drivers and tuners like Howard Maselles, whose ultra-lightweight record-setting 1963 Pontiac Catalina will cross the block this month and could sell for as much as $800,000.

In order to shed weight from the Catalina in 1962, Pontiac introduced a series of aluminum parts – such as front and rear bumpers, front fenders and fender liners, hood, radiator support, splash pan, and radiator – chopping an impressive 159 pounds from the production car’s curb weight of 3,730 pounds. With a 421-cu.in. Super Duty V-8 beneath the hood conservatively rated at 405 horsepower, these Catalinas were capable of mid-12-second runs at the hands of drivers like Arlen Vanke, Arnie Beswick, Hayden Proffitt and Howard Maselles.

The competition did not sit idly by, and by the end of the 1962 season, Pontiac realized that substantial changes to the Catalina would be necessary to keep the car competitive in 1963. Additional horsepower for the 421-cu.in. Super Duty V-8 came with the addition of new Mickey Thompson pistons that boosted the compression ratio from 12.0:1 to 13.0:1, a new camshaft grind working lighter valves, updated cylinder heads with larger exhaust valves, and a new a “bathtub” intake manifold. Just as the old Super Duty 421 was deliberately underrated at 405 horsepower, so too was the updated Super Duty 421, which “officially” produced 410 horsepower, at least according to the numbers published by Pontiac.

The big changes for 1963, however, came in the form of a crash diet that saw the Catalina shed roughly another 270 pounds over the previous year’s car, putting the 1963 factory lightweight Catalina at a truly impressive 3,300 pounds. To achieve this, engineers cut the car’s box frame to form a U-shaped frame, then set to work cutting approximately 120 holes in the steel frame to shed weight (and, presumably, leave the frame just strong and rigid enough for competition). It was this distinctive lightening that gave rise to the car’s “Swiss cheese” nickname, but the weight savings didn’t stop there. Like the 1962 cars, the new versions benefited from the extensive use of aluminum in front end components and the deletion of all sound-deadening material, and further weight savings were realized by deleting the front anti-roll bar (the lightweight Catalinas, Pontiac rationalized, would not be cornered aggressively). Big gains came in the form of thinner-gauge aluminum stampings for the front fenders, hood, and other non-stressed members, as well as the use of aluminum (instead of cast iron) for the exhaust manifolds. While this change alone saved 45 pounds, the design was not without its faults; if run too long, the hot exhaust gases from the Super Duty 421 were capable of melting the aluminum exhaust manifolds. Just 14 “Swiss cheese” Catalinas were built, going to established Pontiac drag racers, including Mickey Thompson, Union Park Pontiac, and Maselles at Packer Pontiac.

At the hands of driver Maselles, the “Swiss cheese” Super Duty lightweight Catalina carrying the livery of Packer Pontiac (“America’s Largest Pontiac Dealer”) established itself as the NHRA C/Stock record holder in 1963, with a pass of 12.27 seconds at 114.64 MPH, a record that would stand until 1968. Sold by the team at the end of the 1963 season, this rare racing Pontiac was discovered by Super Duty collector Randy Williams in the late 1970s, and eventually subjected to a frame-off restoration by Pontiac expert Scott Tiemann that was completed in 2000. Williams only got to enjoy the car until his death in 2004; since that time it’s crossed the auction stage at least three times.

In 2006, it was offered as part of a five car “Super Duty” lot from the Randy Williams collection at Mecum’s St. Charles, Illinois, auction, but bidding stalled at $1,550,000. When the cars were split into five individual lots at that auction, they generated a total of nearly $1.9 million, with the Packer Pontiac “Swiss cheese” Catalina selling for $400,000. The car then crossed the stage a couple more times since then, first at Mecum’s Indianapolis auction in 2010, where bidding reached a high of $475,000, and then in 2012 at Mecum’s Dallas auction, where bidding went up to $570,000; it didn’t sell at either of the two auctions. For this year’s Indianapolis sale, Mecum expects the Packer Pontiac to realize a selling price between $600,000 and $800,000.

Mecum’s Indianapolis sale will take place May 13-18, and this car is scheduled to cross the stage on Saturday, May 17. For further details, visit Mecum.com.

The one-of-one built 1967 Shelby G.T. 500 Super Snake may never have been, except for a conversation between Carroll Shelby and car sales executive (and former Shelby American employee) Don McCain. McCain suggested that there was room atop the supercar food chain for a Shelby-tuned Mustang even higher in performance than the G.T. 500, perhaps using the 427-cu.in. V-8 from the Ford GT40 Mk II race car. Shelby directed engineer Fred Goodell to make it so. The resulting car sold for an impressive $1.3 million at Mecum’s Spring Classic auction in Indianapolis this past weekend.

Though McCain was adamant that he could sell as many as 50 Super Snakes for Shelby American, production was limited to just the single example built using an existing G.T. 500 reserved for the Goodyear “Thunderbolt” tire test (to be entirely accurate, two other 1967 Shelby G.T. 500s were constructed with the 427-cu.in. V-8, though neither was labeled a Super Snake). It’s likely that the public objected to the car’s $8,000 sticker price, which was higher than that of a 427 Cobra.

Even before Fred Goodell ran the Super Snake for 500 miles at an average of 142 MPH (and speeds as high as 170 MPH), the story goes that Carroll Shelby himself thrilled the media gathered at Goodyear’s San Angelo, Texas, test facility with 150 MPH ridealongs. The car and tires performed flawlessly in the test, despite the fact that the Thunderbolt tires were the narrowest ever fitted to a Shelby G.T. 500. The Super Snake’s former owner, Richard Ellis, acquired the car with just 26,000 miles on the odometer, and reportedly returned the car to its condition on the day of the Goodyear test.

“Eleanor,” as built for the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds.

Another Mustang that drew a seven-figure selling price was “Eleanor,” the modified Shelby G.T. 500 clone revered by Nicholas Cage (as car thief extraordinaire Memphis Raines) in the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds. Billed as the “hero” car from the movie, VIN 7R02C179710 was constructed by Cinema Vehicle Services, used for the bulk of the movie closeups and photographed for movie posters and other promotional materials.

Sold in “movie used” condition with minor repairs, the car featured a 351-cu.in. Ford V-8 rated at 400 horsepower, a four-speed manual transmission (complete with a Go-Baby-Go Line Lock button atop the shift knob), four-wheel disc brakes, a lowered coilover suspension, PIAA driving lights, a non-function nitrous oxide system and a distinctive fiberglass body kit sketched by designer Steve Stanford.

The car’s shape is instantly recognizable to anyone who’s seen the film, and many credit the car with single-handedly launching the “Eleanor” resto-rod Shelby G.T. 500 craze. According to Mecum’s description, it has been part of a private collection since the movie’s completion.

The 1970s Can-Am wide-body Corvette look is an acquired taste, but if you can dig it – and if you can hustle on out to Indianapolis next month – Mecum will be offering one with the performance to back up those far-out flares.

From the collection of Motion aficionado Dan McMichael of Indianapolis comes this 1974 Motion Can-Am Spyder Corvette prototype, serial number 0001, built by Joel Rosen’s legendary Motion Performance. It was the first of a run that amounted to just four Corvettes total: The other three were painted yellow with small-block power under their domed hoods, but this red one features a 530hp, 466-cu.in. big-block V-8 with a Muncie M22 close-ratio four-speed and a 4.11:1 rear gear. It boasts the fiberglass wide body kit, Plexiglas-covered headlamps, black rear window louvers, six tunneled taillamps and a set of 10-inch-wide tires on the rear, along with a hatch cut into the fastback body, a feature that Corvette coupes wouldn’t adopt until 1982.

If you think the exterior is shagadelic, poke your head inside for a look at the black diamond pleat upholstery (with buttons) lavished on the seats and door panels. And that lever poking out of the console on the passenger’s side? That engages the Hone-O-Drive overdrive unit that Joel Rosen installed on many Motion cars. It’s an auxiliary two-speed planetary transmission that gives you a 1.43:1 overdrive when yanked into gear.

Mecum’s pre-auction estimate for this one-of-a-kind Motion Corvette ranges from $150,000 to $225,000, but it seems like it could be anybody’s guess what this car will bring when it crosses the block at the 26th Original Spring Classic Auction, scheduled for May 14-19 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis.

We’d call the pairing of “Dyno Don” Nicholson’s A/FX Comet Cyclone and Spence Ford’s B/FX “Cyanide Cyclone” at auction next month a mild-and-wild duo, except there’s little mild about either of the cars. Call them instead wild and wilder.

When Mercury decided to go drag racing in 1964, it essentially had to start from scratch. Its new Cyclone, the performance version of the compact Comet, would provide a good platform for lightweight modifications, and the division could borrow some high-performance engines from the Ford parts shelf, but Mercury needed drivers. Fortunately, according to Charles Morris, writing in Factory Lightweights: Detroit’s Drag Racing Specials of the ’60s, GM’s formal exit from drag racing freed up a number of top drivers for Fran Hernandez to recruit: Ronnie Sox, Ed Schartman, and Nicholson. Of the 21 A/FX Comets that Dearborn Steel tubing built for Mercury in 1964, using 427-cu.in. High-Riser engines, all but one used Cyclone two-door hardtop bodies. The last one, Nicholson’s, used a four-door station wagon body for better weight distribution over the rear axle, and though he switched to a Cyclone partway through the season, he also recorded high 10-second passes and notched up 63 straight wins to go undefeated in match races that year.

For 1965, Nicholson returned in a Cyclone, this time built by Bill Stroppe Engineering using many of the same tricks as the 1964 A/FX cars: fiberglass front bumper, fenders, hood, and doors; custom traction bars; Plexiglas windows; and lightweight bucket seats. Instead of the pushrod 427s, however, Morris wrote that Mercury’s Al Turner convinced Ford to release a handful of its hemi-head SOHC 427 engines to the Mercury team, one of which ended up in Nicholson’s A/FX Cyclone, backed by a four-speed and 9-inch rear axle. With a single four-barrel carburetor, the SOHC was generally considered good for 615 horsepower from the factory, but with some massaging and another four-barrel from Nicholson, his engine reportedly produced somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 horsepower. Nicholson remained atop the match-race heap throughout the year, consistently turning in mid-10-second timeslips, not only by constantly tuning the SOHC engine, but also by altering the Cyclone’s wheelbase, leading the way for march of the funny cars in later years. According to Mecum, which will offer Nicholson’s Cyclone at its Indianapolis event, the Cyclone comes with extensive documentation, including the original Lincoln-Mercury sales agreement, dated December 1, 1964; the original Lloyd’s of London spectator liability insurance policy issued to Nicholson; and a letter Nicholson wrote before his death in 2006 approving of the car’s restoration back to its as-delivered (pre-altered wheelbase) configuration.

Not only did Mercury bring back its A/FX effort for 1965, it also expanded into B/FX that year. Also built by Stroppe, the 15 B/FX Cyclones featured many of the same modifications as the A/FX cars – lightweight body panels, deleted options, racing bucket seats, four-speed and 9-inch – but used the 271hp four-barrel 289-cu.in. small-block V-8. While the A/FX cars were provided only to factory-chosen racers such as Nicholson, Mercury made the B/FX cars available through its dealerships – at a price of $4,776, or about $2,100 more than a base Cyclone. What’s more, buyers could select from a couple of induction options, including dual quads ($249.50) or four Webers ($595), the latter good for about 400 horsepower. Morris noted that the B/FX Cyclones were generally good for timeslips in the 11.30-second to 11.70-second range.

According to Mecum, the B/FX Cyclone at the Indianapolis auction, known as the Cyanide Cyclone, was sponsored by Spence Ford of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, when new. Both the Nicholson A/FX Cyclone and the B/FX Cyanide Cyclone are part of the Richard Ellis collection of high-performance Fords, which includes the one-of-one Shelby G.T. 500 Super Snake. According to Mecum’s Infonet, the last time an A/FX Cyclone cross the Mecum block was in 2010 at Indianapolis, when the Arnie Beswick car bid up to $310,000 but didn’t sell. The last B/FX Cyclone to cross a Mecum auction block was at last year’s Kissimmee sale; it bid up to $150,000 but didn’t sell.

Mecum’s Indianapolis auction will take place May 14-19 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. For more information, visit Mecum.com.

UPDATE (20.May 2013): Nicholson’s Cyclone sold for $410,000, while the Cyanide Cyclone sold for $75,000.

The cars nearly bankrupted him, but if Fred Gibb is known for anything among Chevrolet performance enthusiasts, it’s for convincing Chevrolet to fit the storied all-aluminum ZL1 427-cu.in. V-8 into a handful of Camaros, thus creating one of the fiercest and fastest cars on the dragstrip. This past weekend, the first of those cars hammered at Mecum’s Spring Classic auction in Indianapolis for $400,000, a figure some are already calling the deal of a lifetime.

Gibb, who had been selling Chevrolets in the town of LaHarpe, Illinois, since 1948, didn’t embrace racing as a means to selling more cars until Herb Fox, one of his salesmen, bought a 1967 Camaro Z/28 and introduced Gibb to Dick Harrell. The next year, Gibb began to use his contacts at Chevrolet to order special cars through the Central Office Production Order system, starting with a small fleet of L78/TH400-powered Chevy IIs. Those sold well, so the next year, Gibb went all-out and pulled some strings at Chevrolet to have the ZL1 – developed for Can-Am racing and not slated for production use – installed in 50 1969 Camaros. The first of those 50 Gibb reserved for Fox to race with the Gibb and Harrell names lettered across the sides. According to Mecum’s description:

The first and second ZL1 Camaros arrived at Fred Gibb Chevrolet covered in snow on New Year’s Eve, 1968. It was so cold the cars would not start and had to be towed off the transporter. The first car was immediately sent to Dick Harrell’s Kansas City, Missouri, shop, where Harrell readied it for its scheduled debut at the 1969 AHRA Winternationals three weeks later at Phoenix. Piloted by Gibb Chevrolet employee Herb Fox, the car served notice on its competitors that trouble lay on the horizon when it beat the two top qualifiers before losing in the semi-final to eventual winner Arlen Vanke’s Barracuda. The most alarming part of the day for the Mopar contingent came when Fox eliminated Mr. Four-Speed himself, Ronnie Sox, in the Sox & Martin Hemi Barracuda.

Harrell demonstrated the car’s performance for Super Stock magazine in February 1969, turning 10.41 at 128.10 MPH with the stock Holley 850, and 10.29 with dual 660 Holleys on a Weiand tunnel-ram. The Gibb-Harrell ZL1 Camaro then barnstormed the country, racking up victories in both AHRA and NHRA competition. In 1971, the car was converted to the new AHRA Pro Stock rules and driven by Jim Hayter, who set the AHRA Pro Stock record of 9.63 at 143 MPH and won the AHRA Championship in both Super Stock and Pro Stock.

Afterward, the Camaro languished in semi obscurity until Bill Porterfield located, purchased, and restored it in the 1980s. As for the ZL1, it wound up in just 69 total Camaros and two Corvettes, and documented ZL-1-equipped Camaros – sans Gibb Harrell and Fox provenance – have sold for as much as $800,000 in the past.

The Camaro’s status as the first ZL1 didn’t land it the top spot at the auction, however. That went to another big-block Chevrolet, a one-of-13 1968 Corvette L88 convertible that still runs its original big-block/M22 four-speed drivetrain and comes with its original factory invoice. Restored using only NOS parts, Bloomington Gold gave it a score of 98.2 and the National Corvette Restorers Society awarded it their Top Flight award. It sold for $600,000.

When Detroit went racing and took to the strip in the 1960s, it was a game of cubic inches, compression and carburetors – the more you had, the better. Of course, when it came to weight, less was better. Combine the strength training with a bit of a diet and you had a winning combination.

Legendary 409-cu.in. Chevrolet Big Block V-8

Scheduled for auction at the Mecum Original Spring Classic in Indianapolis, the 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air pictured here has a lightweight aluminum front end to go along with its dual-quad 409hp 409-cu.in. V-8 and four-speed transmission. It’s believed-to-be-accurate 574 miles on the odometer and Mickey Thompson slicks make it appear that the Bel Air earned every one of those miles the hard way – 1,320 feet at a time. With its unrestored condition and matching numbers drivetrain, the Bel Air should draw plenty of attention at Indy.

Chevrolet built 365,500 Bel Airs in 1962, but only a few thousand were two-door, pillarless bubble-top coupes, whose curves were a carryover from 1961 and a stark contrast to the squared-off, upmarket Impala coupes. Even more rare was the factory RPO587 option 409-cu.in. engine with dual Carter AFB carburetors, a forged crankshaft, solid lifters and lightweight valvetrain for a cool one horsepower per cubic inch rating of 409hp. Pushing into the rarefied air of very low double-digit production numbers, this Bel Air wears a lightweight aluminum front end consisting of inner and outer fenders, hood and fan shroud. Because Chevrolet published no definitive production information on these cars, actual production numbers are impossible to truly verify. Likewise, the aluminum parts were available over the counter, albeit likely in very, very limited quantities.

Heater and radio delete leaves the already simple Bel Air interior downright spartan.

As part of their factory racing efforts in 1962, various Service Packages were available through the right dealer that knew how to order them. These include the Z11-style heads and intake made famous on the 1963 Impala Z11 427 lightweight drag special. In this case, according to the auction description, the rare Z11 parts are fitted to the 409-cu.in. V-8. Other Service Package components included a new camshaft, valve springs and exhaust pushrods. A single four-barrel carburetor is also listed as part of the package, but few racers actually put them on their cars, preferring the dual-quad setup.

Steel wheels and poverty caps were common on drag-race specials.

Despite shortcomings in the big-block Chevrolet motor, such as nearly flathead cylinder heads with restrictive passages and combustion chambers in the cylinders, as compared to the competition from Mopar and Pontiac, several prominent racers took great advantage of the Bel Air’s light weight and big power in 1962, including the likes of Dave Strickler, who drove the Old Reliable II prepared by Grumpy Jenkins, and “Dyno” Don Nicholson. Aluminum-fendered Bel Airs were classified in the NHRA’s factory experimental class as their production numbers were simply too low to be considered for any of the stock classes, though many racers also drove steel-bodied Bel Air 409s in the stock classes. Early in the season, Strickler set a new trap speed record for B/FX in a Bel Air at 112.80 MPH. Running with the standard steel body panels on his Bel Air, Hayden Proffitt won the National Stock Eliminator Championship at the season-ending NHRA Nationals in 1962. While they didn’t have as much success at the sanctioned events, 409 Bel Airs, aluminum and steel, more than made up for it by winning match races all over the country.

This particular Bel Air is currently scheduled to cross the auction block on Friday, May 18. For more information, visit Mecum.com.

UPDATE (22.May 2012): Mecum reports that the Bel Air bid up to $150,000, but didn’t sell.